Elevator safety appliance.



No. 69!,3l0. Patented Jan. l4, I902.

G. HAIL.

ELEV'ATORSAFETY APPLIANCE.

(Application filed June 28, 1901.)

3 Shets-Sheet l..

(No Model.)

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No. 69|,3|0.' Patented lanfl4, 1902.

- a. HAIL.

ELEVATOR SAFETY APPLIANCE.

(Application filed J me 26, 1901'.)

(No Model.) @Shets-Sheet 2 A fink J l 4!! I II I ||llllllllfllllllllllllln Witnesses: I -Inven iqr:

Patented Jan. [4, 1 902.

No. 69l,3|0. G. HAIL.

ELEVATOR SAFETY APPLIANCE.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 (Application filed June 26,

(No Model.)

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE HAIL, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

ELEVATOR SAFETY APPLIANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,310, dated January 14, 1902.

Application filed Jun e 26,1901.

To to whom, it may concern:

Beitknown that I, GEORGE HAIL, of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator Safety Appliances, of which the followingis a specification. This invention has relation to elevator safety appliances of the type known as doorlocked controllers, and it has for its object to produce an electrically-actuated apparatus operable on opening any one of the doors at an elevator-landing for effecting the locking of the hand-rope by which the hoisting machineryis controlled. Suchcontrolling-lines are usually constructed of wire rope, and in the past the employment of locking devices directly engaging the rope has proved so injurious to the latter that attempts have been made to provide the rope with clips or other projections which may be engaged by the lock. The use of such clips, however, militates in some degree against the quiet travel of the car, adds weight to the line and. to the devices which support it, and is a constant source of annoyance and trouble to the elevator attendant. The present invention is designed to provide a locking device which may without injurious effects engage the rope itself and bein position to lock the same after the opening of the door in case the said rope is moved in one direction or the other. The actual opening of the door does not cause the locking of the rope, but merely brings the locking devices into operable position, so that they are seldom caused'to actually apply the power or pressure necessary for locking.

It is evident that the movement of the locking device to operable position maybe effected either mechanically or electrically, and it is evident also that mechanical mechanism may be substituted for the electrical mechanism shown on the accompanying drawings by a mere change in equivalents or by the substitution of contrivances well known in theart. Consequently, so far as my invention is concerned, it broadly consists of oscillatory coacting cams and means actuated upon the opening of a door for moving one of said cams to operable position, whereby it will be rotated to lock the rope by its coac- Sarial N0. 66 ,077. (N0 model.)

tion with the other cam in case the rope is moved in one direction or the other.

Referring to the said accompanying drawings, which illustrate one embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 represents a diagrammatic view of a portion of an elevator plant equipped with my invention, the doors being shown to one side. Figs. 2, 3, and iillustrate the locking device by itself. Fig. 5

represents in detail the weighted bell-crank lever.

On the drawings the car is illustrated as a whole at a and travels in the customary well or shaft past the floors, which are indicated at b. Its ascent or descent is controlled by the controller 0, whichvis shown as a wire rope. The connections between the said rope and the hoisting mechanism are not shown, as they are well known and need no illustration. The controller passes through the car, as shown, in proximity to the front portion thereof, so that it may be grasped by the operator and moved upward or downward to cause the movement of the car or the stopping thereof at any particular landing. Upon the top of the car is mounted the electromagnetic lock, the operation of which is regulated by the circuit-controllers d d, with which the landing-doors o coact. The said controllers are arranged in multiple in circuit e,which includes a cable e, attached to the car. The circuit, which is supplied by a generator or other suitable source, also includes the coils of an electromagnet or solenoid which forms a portion of the lock. The controllers are so arranged that when all of the doors are closed the circuit is broken; but upon the slightest opening of any one of the doors the circuit is immediately closed and the lock is moved to operable position.

car, by which the circuit may be broken at any time by the attendant, said switch being held in closed position normally by a spring The circuit 6 I also includes a switch mechanism g on the it, although it is shown as open for the purpose of illustration. This switch mechanism g is provided in order that the circuitmay be broken by the attendant in case one of the doors be insecurely locked and inadvertently opened and to enable the car to proceed, for otherwise the closing of the circuit would, as

will be subsequently explained, cause the operation of the lock and the consequent stopping of the car. The electromagnet is confined within a casing 10, bolted to a standard 11, secured to the top of the car. The core or armature is indicated at 12, and it is drawn within the casing 10 when the circuit through the electromagnetic coils is closed. Mounted upon the standard are two cams or eccentrics 13 14, the former being journaled upon a stud-shaft 15, secured to the standard at 14, and the latter being journaled upon a stud 16 on a link or support 17, pivoted at 18 to an arm 19, formed upon the vertical tubular guide or abutment 20, through which the controller 0 passes. The cams or eccentrics are provided with interlocking epicycloidal teeth 131 141, respectively, and are normally so arranged that the flattened portions 133 134 of their peripheries, which are nearest the centers, are in engagement, as shown inFigs. 2 and 4, whereby the grooved peripheral portion 142 of the eccentric 14 is retracted and out of engagement with the controller 0. The tubular guide 20 has an angular slot through which the controller may be passed sidewise and which provides for the entrance of theperipheral portion 142 of the eccentric 14, as indicated in dotted lines in both Figs. 2 and 3 and in full lines in Fig. 4. The teeth. 131 and 141 are so long that the cam or eccentric 14 is capable of considerable lateral movement without their being disengaged. Said eccentrics arelikewise so Wei ghted or balanced that they normally hang in the position shown in Fig. 2, returning to said position when released from engagement with the rope. The stud 16 enters a slot in an adjustable arm 21 on a weighted bell-crank lever 22, fulcru'med at 23. The other adjustable arm 24 of said lever is connected by a link or connecting-rod 25'with. the lower end of the core or plunger 12. (See Fig. 3.) The weight 26 on the bellcrank is less than the weight of the core or plunger 12 and is raised by the said plunger, when the latter drops by gravity, so as to move the cam or eccentric 14 to its inoperative or normal position bearing against eccentric 13. Preferably the peripheral groove 142 in the cam or eccentric 14 is slightly roughened or corrugated, so as to snugly clasp the controller when moved to operative position, but not sufficiently to injure it.

The operation of the devices is as follows: Upon the elevator reaching a landingand be- -ing brought to a state of rest the opening of the door closes the circuit e, and the core or plunger 12 is immediatelyraised bythe magnetic coils. This tilts the lever 22 and moves the cam or eccentric to the dotted position in Fig. 2, which position I have termed its operable position, meaning thereby that it is in. position to be operated. When in such position, it is held quite firmly, though yieldingly, by the strength of the magnet in engagement with the rope. Now if the rope is raised or lowered by the attendant the eccentric 14 by its engagement therewith will be rotated, causing the rotation of the eccentric 13 through the coaction of their teeth, with the result that the said eccentrics firmly wedge the rope against the inner wall of the tubular guide 20. Under ordinary circumstances, however, the operator or attendant does not attempt to shift the rope until the door is closed, and consequently the frequent engagements of the movable eccentric with the rope is not sufficient to injure or mar it in any way.

One of the advantages of the device is that in case the door he left open and the car starts to creep the rope will be immediately locked and the car brought to a state of rest before it has moved more than a few inches, through the shifting of the valvecaused by the movement of the rope with the car.

I desire to have it clearly understood that my contrivance differs from the ordinary door-locked controllers in that by the employment of rotary mechanism coacting with the lock the opening of the door moves the look from an inoperative position to an operable position, from which it may be rotated or moved to operative or operated position, and, further, that but a single lock is employed to lock said rope when moved upward or clownward.

In addition to the particular features thus disclosed the invention includes many other features which are desirable and for which claims are hereinafter presented.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, I declare that what I claim is 1. An elevator safety appliance comprising in combination with the controller, oscillatory coacting cams, and actuating means for moving one of said cams to operable position in engagement with the controller, whereby the said cam will be moved to operative or locking position whenever the said controller is moved upward or downward.

2. An elevator safety appliance comprising in combination with the controller, engaging cams or eccentrics, one of which is laterally movable with relation to the other, and means for moving the movable eccentric into engagement with the controller, whereby the movement of the said controller in either direction will cause the locking of the said controller.

3. An elevator safety appliance comprising in combination with the controller, engaging cams or eccentrics, one of which is laterally movable with relation to the other, and means operated by the opening of the door for moving the movable eccentric into engagement with the controller whereby the movement of the said controller in either direction will IIO cause the rotation of both said cams or eccentries and the wedging of the movable cam or eccentric against the controller.

4. An elevator safety appliance comprising in combination with a controller, a locking mechanism including an abutment, an eccentrio normally in an inoperative position and movable toward the said abutment, means operated upon the opening of the door for moving said eccentric into operable position into engagement with the controller, and means whereby the moving of the controller in either direction will wedge said eccentric against the said controller.

5. An elevator safety appliance comprising in combination with the controller, a locking mechanism includingan abutment, a rotary lock movable toward and from said abutment, means operable by the opening of a door for moving said rotary lock to engage the con troller, and rotary means for causing said rotary lock to wedge the controller againstjsaid abutment upon the moving of said controller in either direction.

6. An elevatorsafetyappliance comprising 25 toothed eccentrics, a swinging support for one of said eccentrics to move it bodily relatively to the other, and electromagnetic mechanism operated upon the opening of the door for moving said support to engage the 30 eccentric with the controller.

7. An elevator safety appliance comprising in combination with a controller, a standard having an abutment for the controller, a swinging support, two engaging cams one of 3 5 which is stationarily journaled upon the standards, and the other of which is jour= naled upon the said swinging support, a lever connected to said support, and an elec tromagnet energized by the opening of a door 0 for moving said lever. v

In testimony whereof I have affixed my sig= nature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE HAIL Witnesses:

EDWARD L. HAIL, HENRY A. GREENE. 

